Maximum Ride: Broken Promises, Broken Hearts
by tiel lover
Summary: Fang was supposed to be dead last time Max saw him, but now he's come back, and Max is thrilled. But when he finds someone else to love, Max is heartbroken. Has Fang forgotten his promises?
1. Are You New To This Ride?

Are you new to this ride? If so, you may want to read about my first adventure in Maximum Ride: Out For Revenge. It'll make this story a whole lot clearer. Either way, enjoy the ride!

~ Maximum Ride


	2. Missing You

The second day is always hardest. No matter what they tell you about heart break, the second day after someone's death is the worst day of your whole life, especially if you are a mutant bird kid on the run who can't mourn properly.

Its not that I didn't wanted a proper funeral for Fang, I did, but it just didn't seem right. Fang was never one to cry in the hardest of times, and he diffidently did not love crowds, mushy gushy feelings, or, really, even flowers. And of course, there is always the money issue. So a 'proper' funeral with mourners and all of that other stuff was out of the question.

We did have quite the sob-fest in the waiting room of my mom's vet clinic after I saw Fang for the last time, but after that none of us have so much as mentioned his name. I think about it a lot though. Every day. I kept waiting for Fang to silently walk up behind me and make my neck prickle with his breath. That's why I said that the second day is always hardest.

The first day after someone dies, you are kind of in this dreamy state, like none of the events had been real and the person (a.k.a. Fang) is still alive. But the second day, you start expecting to see them and hear them, just like every other day in your miserable life. But they never appear.

After seeing Fang, I knew, in my heart of hearts, that he was never, ever coming back. But I didn't want to believe it. I still didn't, four days afterwards, as I flew over the Arizona-Mexico boundary. That was another nice thing about being mutant freak - we didn't have to deal with customs and passports, we just flew right over the electrified wire fences that were supposed to keep everyone out.

"Max?" Nudge asked, flying up beside me. "I'm hungry." I sighed.

"I know you're hungry Nudge. Just let us get well past the border," I gestured at the tiny silver line that ran through the desert, "and then we will stop and get some grub, ok?"

Nudge didn't look too pleased, but she nodded and dropped back to join Angel and Total. I wished Fang was here, so I could talk to him. Over the last few days, I had found out just how much I relied on his guidance to keep me going.

I swallowed down some threatening tears and looked below me. The border had faded into the distance behind us and I figured it was safe to land. I was getting pretty hungry too; flying takes a lot of energy and after logging major hours, I felt like I could eat a cow. Silverware optional.

I turned my head to look at the Flock. "Who wants to get some grub?" Four hands and a paw were immediately in the air. I nodded and angled my wings so that I started to descend. The Flock followed in quick pursuit.

We took a running landing in an alley way and quickly folded our wings tightly into our backs. I did a quick sweep of the tight brick hall, checking for anything unusual as I put on my torn windbreaker. I looked back at the Flock, who had automatically dawned their windbreakers as well. Now we looked like a bunch of skinny, dirty kids in oversized windbreakers, not at all like mutant freaks.

We found a small taco place (turns out the Mexicans are not too big on burgers) and ordered enough food to feed a herd of elephants. I paid, 'cause I'm Ms. Bank Card.

"This is the best!" Nudge cried, digging into a bean and cheese burrito. Gazzy and Angel were each having three soft shell tacos and Iggy was eating his super-sized nacho plate with gusto. I took a sip of my rice milk (they didn't have soda). It wasn't that bad; kind of milky with a touch of cinnamon.

"What are we going to do after this?" Nudge asked, her mouth full of bean, cheese, salsa, and tortilla.

"I'm not sure." I replied, then took a bite of my enchilada. Man, these Mexicans knew how to cook!

Gazzy looked at me hopefully. "Max, can we go to the beach?"

"Yeah!" Nudge piped up. "We could sleep in palm trees and play in the water and build sand castles and chase crabs and eat fish and collect shells . . ." I gave Nudge one of my famous if-you-continue-talking-I-am-going-to-personally-rip-your-head-off glares and she clammed up (no pun intended).

"Iggy?" I asked. Since Fang had died, Iggy had become my right-hand man, but in my own opinion, Fang was just so much better at it than he was.

Iggy just shrugged at me. "Alright," I sighed. "The beach it is." My decision was met with cheers from the younger kids.

We found a small, uninhabited beach near the town where we had eaten, and touched down in the soft white sand. Angel immediately headed for the water.

"Angel," I called after her. She skidded to a stop, spraying sand everywhere, and turned to look at me. "Catch us some dinner, o.k.?" Angel smiled sweetly and dove into the warm waves. For once, being able to talk to fish didn't seem like such a bad skill.

Nudge was helping Iggy build a ring of rocks on the beach for a fire. Gazzy had disappeared into a grove of palm trees to find something flammable for the fire. I sat down and watched as Nudge had Iggy help her place the small rocks in a circle in the sand. Iggy's sensitive fingers brushed over each rock and he was telling Nudge what the color they were.

The Gasman returned just as Nudge and Iggy had finished the circle of rocks. His arms were loaded with dry palm leaves and coconut fibers.

"Here." Gazzy declared as he set the mess on the sand. "Wow, that stuff itches! I am going to play with Angel." Gazzy ran towards the ocean, scratching his arms the whole way. Iggy reached out for a palm branch. I pushed one underneath his fingertips. He snatched it up and felt along its length, marveling at the texture of the dry fibers.

Nudge had used the coconut hairs to build a small mound in the middle of the rock circle. "Iggy?" she asked, staring at him expectantly. Iggy smiled and produced a lighter out of his windbreaker pocket, which he used to light the hair on fire. Nudge began to feed the small fire palm leaves, and soon it had expanded into a good-sized blaze.

"I'm going to look for drift wood." I announced and got up before either of them could protest. Alright, so I was going to look for drift wood, but I did need a moment alone. I walked alone the beach, watching my shadow lengthen as the sun slowly dipped behind the horizon. The sunset was beautiful; painting the sky with pinks, oranges, and gold. I kicked up a bunch of sand with my bare foot, I had left my shoes back with the Flock, and watched it float into the sea.

I felt my eyes lightly misting with tears. I wished Fang was here with me, this was the kind of place he would have enjoyed. But Fang was gone, and I would just have to watch the sunset on my own.

I returned to find the Flock huddled around Iggy and Nudge's campfire, roasting marshmallows and fish. Night was settling in on the beach, and everything was bathed in a silvery glow as the moon and stars rose into the sky. Flames cast flickering shadows on the palm trees and the sand. _This is how it should be forever. Me, my family, and the great outdoors, all alone with no one to bother us._

I joined my small family by the fire. Nudge handed me a stick and Gazzy passed me a bag of marshmallows. I pushed three white blobs onto my stick and held it out over the fire. Iggy used two twigs to remove a foil-wrapped packet from the fire and set it on the sand before opening it. The smell of freshly baked fish caught it my nostrils. I smiled at Angel, who had undoubtedly convinced the fish to commit suicide.

I was practically drooling by the time Iggy handed me my share of the fish. I bit into it, not caring about the tiny bones within the flesh until one poked me in the roof of the mouth. After that I was a little more careful. Dinner was delicious, and with a full belly, I put my fist out to perform our bedtime ritual. The rest of the Flock nodded and placed their fists on top of mine.

"Night." Nudge yawned. She flew up into the air and landed on top of a palm tree, where she fell quickly asleep in its branches.

"Good night Max." Gassy said, hugging me. I smiled at him as he too flew up to a palm and disappeared from my view. _At least prying eyes won't be able to see us as we sleep._ I ruffled Angel's hair. She hugged me tightly. I turned to Iggy, who's sightless eyes were staring in my general direction.

"I'll take first watch." I told him. Iggy nodded, then stood up and walked over to a palm. I watched in amazement as he shinned up the trunk like an oversized white monkey. I sat down in the soft sand and listened to the sound of my Flock drifting off to sleep in the treetops above me. _Oh Fang, I wish you were here._


	3. Love Never Fails

Fang was feeling nauseated. His head pounded like a drum and black dots swarmed in front of his eyes like Gothic ballet dancers. His throat was dreadfully parched. He reached out with a trembling hand and grabbed the glass of orange juice that was sitting on a nightstand next to his bed. He sat up and swallowed the whole glass as fast as he could. That was better.

Fang sighed and leaned back on his pillows. He closed his eyes, trying not to hurl. He could hear birds twittering outside, and he wished that he could join them and be free, free, free. But Dr. Martinez said that he was in no condition to fly and Fang agreed with her, though not openly.

Ella poked her head through the bedroom door. "How are you feeling Fang?" she asked.

Fang opened his eyes and looked at Max's half sister. "I'm fine." Ella looked concerned, but she closed the door. Fang listened as her footsteps faded down the hallway. Fang relaxed. He wanted to be out of bed, and back in action. Being sick sucked.

Dr. Martinez opened the door and walked in to the room. Fang could see Ella hiding behind her mother, watching him with wide, curious eyes. She reminded him of Nudge when there was a candy bar in the room.

"How are you?" Dr. Martinez asked, sitting down on the edge of Fang's bed. Fang grimaced as the bed shook, making his stomach upset even more.

"Fine." Fang managed to lie. His stomach was boiling. He felt like puking.

Dr. Martinez pulled a stethoscope out of her vet's bag, which was kept in Fang's room 24/7. She placed the head set over her ears and slid the cold metal disk over Fang's exposed chest. After assuring that his heart rate was normal, Dr. Martinez took Fang's blood pressure and temperature.

"Are you feeling nauseated at all?" Fang wanted to say no, but he nodded grimly. Dr. Martinez left the room and returned with a glass of water and a few pills. "Take these," she said, "they'll help calm your stomach down." Fang downed the pills and the water gratefully then handed the empty cup back to Dr. Martinez.

The vet reached down and brushed a stray strand of black hair out of Fang's face. If he had been feeling normal, Fang would have pulled away from the kind gesture, but every movement was making his stomach roll, so he stayed put.

"I just don't get it." Dr. Martinez muttered, more to herself than to Fang. "You were in shock, you should have died, but at the last minute, your body pulled out of it and started functioning again." She shook her head. "It couldn't have been . . ."

"What?" Fang asked, looking at the older woman with his hard, black gaze.

Dr. Martinez looked at Fang solemnly. "Right before she left, Max kissed you. I think that's what brought you back. Back from the dead."


	4. Beaches and Blood

I obviously had fallen asleep during my watch, because when I awoke the next morning at the crack of dawn (for those of you who are wondering, the dawn doesn't crack), I had sand everywhere; in my hair, in my mouth, in my eyes. I probably deserved it. Iggy was sitting next to me, watching the sky turn golden as the sun peeped over the edge of the earth.

"Morning." Iggy said, without moving.

I groaned, and Iggy's face broke into a smug smile. "Fell asleep on the job did you?" I cuffed him in the cheek, but he just grinned. I stood up and stretched my wings out to their full length. The sun's first rays felt good on my skin, warming it up to a nice, toasty temperature. Sand fell out of my clothes and my hair onto the beach. I combed my hands through my hair and released a new torrent of sand down my back.

I was tired and itchy, so I turned and looked at Iggy. "I'm going for a swim." When I saw the look on his face, I added, "And yes, I am going to wear my clothes." Iggy frowned. _Boys_. _I'll never understand them._

I plunged into the warm, salty ocean water and washed the sand out of my hair. I pulled the small bottle of complimentary hotel shampoo that I had grabbed from our knapsack out of my pocket and squirted a tiny amount into my hand. I lathered my head, and rinsed it off in the water. Then I got out of the water and silently sat down next to Iggy.

My hair was thick with sea salt by the time it had dried, but I was glad to have clean hair. I mean, even if I am a mutant freak, I still don't want dirt and bugs and blood in my hair. I'm not that gross!

"You smell like lavender." Iggy smirked. I punched him for the second time that morning.

"Your point?" I demanded, trying to sound angry, but I couldn't hide the sadness in my voice. _Fang would have said the same thing._

Iggy must have heard the taint of tears in my sharp remark, because he gently wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close. "We all miss him Max. I can't believe he's gone either." I blinked back the tears that were forming in my eyes and looked at Iggy.

"I miss him Iggy." I whispered. "I don't know what to do anymore." I immediately shut my mouth. That was the most I had ever admitted to being dependant on Fang. Iggy just sat silently, his sightless blue eyes staring off somewhere into space.

"Iggy?" I waved my hand in front of his face. Ironic, isn't it?

"I can see the ocean." Iggy breathed. "It's beautiful."

I was immediately alert. "Is it like Antarctica?" I asked. I case you didn't know, on our last trip to Antarctica (don't ask, it's a long story) Iggy found out that he could see the outline of the ice, but nothing else. The development had almost convinced me that Iggy was regaining his sight, or at least part of it.

"Yeah," Iggy whispered, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. "I can see the water moving up and down." I was thrilled for Iggy, but I kept my mouth shut, allowing him to enjoy the moment. That's me, thoughtful Maximum.

Since Iggy was busy marveling at the ocean, I got up and began the long, hard task of stoking the fire. I finally got it going after several tries by using Iggy's matches. By now, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, and Total had abandoned their palms and joined Iggy and I down on the beach.

"Morning everybody!" I said cheerfully. I was responded with half-hearted moans. _Glad you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. _"Breakfast in ten!"

Iggy, who had finally finished marveling at the waves, had drug himself over to the fire and was cooking a container of Jiffy-Pop. The rest of the Flock was seated around the fire, roasting Pop Tarts and frozen waffles on sticks. What?! You've never tried a fire-roasted Pop Tart?! They're really good, and really sticky. I flew up into the air and whacked a few coconuts down to the ground. Might as well try one.

I wondered if I could crack the tough shell with my bare hands, 'cause I'm super strong, but I decided against it. I didn't feel like bruising my hand right now. Instead I found a pretty sharp rock and broke the nuts in half with a few hard whacks. I eagerly tried a little bit of the milk, but spit it out. Ick! I decided to try a bit of the meat so I dumped the clear-ish milk onto the sand and began to peel the coconut.

For those of you who ever eaten a fresh coconut, you know that those darn little buggers have not only one shell, but THREE; the outer shell, or husk, which is green, then the brown, fuzzy shell, and then a thin, papery layer that tastes like absolutely nothing. When I had broken the coconut open, I had split the husk and the shell in half, but the meat was still clinging to the halves, so I whacked the halves on the rock until I was able to pull the crushed shell off of the white meat. I popped a piece in my mouth. It was better than the milk, but I wasn't all that great. But, I'd eaten worse, and I was really hungry.

I brought back a small armful of coconut meat to the Flock. Nudge immediately grabbed like, six pieces, and stuffed them into her mouth. Since Nudge is a vegetarian (or she tries to be), I supposed the coconut would appeal to her a lot more than fish.

"This is so good!" Nudge cried with her mouth full. "It's so sweet and tender and juicy and . . ." I was in no mood to hear her describe the coconut this morning, so I shot her a Look. She closed her mouth reluctantly and continued chewing. We ate the rest of our breakfast in silence.

After eating, the others went for a swim. I stayed out of the water and sat on the beach alone, pondering what my Voice had meant when it said I could save Fang. That little statement was really starting to get on my nerves.

_I felt my mom's hand caress my shoulder gently, but I shook her off and ran to Fang. I stood next to him and clasped his hand so tightly that my knuckles turned white. Tears streaked down my cheeks. _

_"Fang!" I cried. "Fang why did you do it?! Why did you d . ." I wasn't able to get the last word past my lips. I just couldn't believe it. Fang was dead._

_Once again I felt my mom's hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her kind face with teared-streaked eyes. "Why did you let him die? Why?" I whispered, putting every single emotion that I was feeling into my words._

_"Max, I did everything I could." My mom and I stood still together, watching Fang's limp body and softly crying. Well, my crying wasn't that soft, it was more like sobbing, but that's beside the point._

_**You can still save him, Max.**_

_I immediately perked up. 'Long time, no annoy Voice. Mind throwing that juicy tidbit by me again?'_

_I could have sworn that the Voice chuckled. __**I said "You can still save Fang."**_

_'What!? How?'_

_**Follow you heart, Max. It knows the way.**_

Now, five days later, that short conversation was bugging me to no end. What had the Voice meant? My thoughts were interrupted by a scream. I looked out at the ocean, expecting to see a shark or something. But reality is always so much worse than my thoughts. Flyboys.

I immediately jack-knifed to my feet and sprinted into the water, not caring about my clothes. There were about ten Flyboys in all; they had formed a circle around the us.

"Formation!" I yelled, and the Flock pulled into a tight circle, facing outwards, with Total in the middle. I balled my fists, adrenaline coursing through my veins like liquid fire. _I really could have used your help right now Fang!_ I shed a tear, just one tear, and launched myself at the nearest Flyboy. I punched its face, and watched in satisfaction as its head came clean off. I spun around and looked at the rest of the Flock.

Nudge was holding her own, Angel and Gazzy were flying above our heads, throwing punches at the Flyboy's heads from the air, but Iggy was having difficulty in the turmoil. I ran over to him and place my back against his.

"You alright?" I yelled.

"Yeah!" Iggy said as he kicked outwards. A Flyboy dropped into the water and short-circuited. I could actually feel the electricity buzzing in my legs. Then I got an idea.

"Everyone, U and A!" I yelled as loud as I could. Two bird kids and one dog launched into the air at my command, I jumped up and joined them, circling low over the Flyboys heads. "Hey! Tin can!"

The Flyboys heads swiveled up to look at us. "Do not resist." they droned, "and your deaths will be quick."_ What IDIOT programmed them to say that?!_ The six remaining Flyboys lifted into the air with difficulty and started towards us.

"Follow me!" I told the Flock. I shot forward, my wings pumping. The Flyboys followed us in close pursuit, their heavy metal bodies struggling to stay aloft. I flew a good distance away from the beach until I decided to put my plan into action. I immediately dove down, straight into the water. _Please let them follow me._ I saw bubbles explode beneath the surface of the water as Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, and Total followed, but not the Flyboys. _Crap. Apparently, this batch was smarter the the last._

I stayed under as long as I could, then soared upwards, launching out of the water and into the air like a missile. The Flyboys were hovering about twenty feet above the ocean's surface, looking up at me. "Do not resist." they droned, "and your deaths will be quick."

"Ok, ok! I get it!" I complained. The Flyboys slowly began to make their way over to me. The Flock came

up behind them. Angel flew silently up behind a Flyboy and pulled its wings back as hard as she could. It shrieked mechanically and fell down into the waves. _One down, five to go._

I flew forward, fists out, and punched a Flyboy in the small of the back, he crumpled and fell. I felt a metal fist punch me in the head, and my vision went fuzzy. I was losing altitude, fast. I shook my throbbing head and soared drunkenly upwards. Two more Flyboys were left.

__My head was throbbing like nuts, but I changed forward, taking the first Flyboy by surprise. I looked over to see Angel and Gazzy wrestling with the other one, with Total biting at its heels. A quick punch in the gut told me to pay attention to my own fight. I doubled over in pain and dropped a few feet, barely missing a swinging Flyboy foot.

Iggy was clinging to the back of my Flyboy, riding it like a bronco. He looked in my general direction. "Move it Max!"

I immediately tucked my wings in and fell like a rock. A few seconds later, the Flyboy exploded into millions of tiny pieces. A piece of metal flew by my face, drawing a thin line of blood from my cheek. Iggy was way above me, his head cocked in pleasure as he listened to the explosion.

I looked over at the final Flyboy. Somehow, he had managed to throw Angel and Gazzy off and produce a gun._ A gun._ My victorious smile faded and my eyes widened in fright. The gun was pointing right at my head.

It was like watching a movie in slow motion. Angel dropped out of nowhere and landed on the Flyboy's shoulders, knocking it off balance. The barrel of the gun flashed and almost at the same time, I felt a searing pain in my shoulder. It had been aiming at my head, but ended up hitting my shoulder instead. Lucky me. I watched as Iggy knocked the Flyboy's block off, literally, and the crumpled body fell with a splash into the waves.

My shoulder hurt something awful. I clutched it, feeling hot blood seep through my fingers. At least it hadn't hit my wing. Angel surged up to me, a look of concern on her face.

"Max, are you alright?" she asked.

I tousled Angel's curls with my unused hand. "I'm fine sweetie. Thanks." My words seemed to calm the six-year-old a little bit, but not a whole lot.

We all flew back to the beach quietly and landed. I stumbled at little and caught myself by grabbing onto Gazzy. The eight-year-old eagerly supported my weight. I gave him a little half smile and his whole face lit up.

Iggy ended up removing the bullet from my shoulder by using a pair of fire-heater tweezers. It hurt a lot, but I didn't complain. After my shoulder was bullet-free and all bandaged up, I got out the medical kit and began to tend to my family.

Nudge had gotten scraped by some shrapnel from Iggy's explosion and had a black eye. Angel and Gazzy both had some minor cuts and bruises, but otherwise seemed ok. Iggy's arm had been sliced by who-knows-what and had a bloody nose. I had a bullet wound. Total was fine, but he was complaining about everything. _How ironic._


	5. Recovery

Fang sat in the Martinez's living room, sipping a glass of lemonade. Dr. Martinez had finally allowed him out of 'his' room, but he still couldn't go outside. Fang hated being locked up inside like a pet, but he respected Dr. Martinez, which was more than he could say of any other adult he'd met.

The smell of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies wafted from the kitchen. _They smell so good. I understand why Max craves cookies so much._ Fang waited eagerly for Max's mom to appear with a whole plate of cookies. In the meantime, Fang picked up the TV remote off of the side table next to the couch he was reclining on and flipped through the channels absentmindedly.

He stopped on a random channel and watched with half interest. Dr. Martinez walked out of the kitchen and joined Fang on the couch, holding a blue plate piled high with still-warm chocolate chip cookies. Fang grabbed one and stuffed it in his mouth, a faint flicker of pleasure sweeping across his face._ I am in heaven!_

The tiny, annoying news reporter on the TV was blabbing away on the screen while Fang ate the cookies as fast as he could, savoring every bite.

"Now we go to Lou in Heroica, Mexico. Lou?" The news reporter droned.

Lou appeared on screen. "Thank you Paul. I'm here in Heroica, Mexico, researching what may be the strangest phenomenon that has happened in this area in a long while." Lou said, gesturing with one hand while holding his microphone in the other. Fang leaned forward at little bit. The reporter had his full attention. "At nine o'clock this morning, a local news chopper picked up this following footage." The screen changed to show a grainy movie shot from a helicopter. In the center of the image were six blurry shapes of varying sizes, suspended on a blue screen. Fang recognized them immediately.

"We're not sure for certain what these blobs are, but they appear to be a group of children and a small dog. Local authorities are looking in on this case and trying to determine what these alien objects are. We'll keep you updated as the case progresses."

The screen switched back to the man, Paul, in the news room, who started discussing rising stock prices. Fang stopped leaning forward and fell backwards on the couch. He closed his eyes. _Max, oh Max, I want to join you so much. I miss you._

Dr. Martinez picked up the remote and flipped through nearly six news channels. Max was making headlines on nearly every station. The sides of Fang's mouth twitched; his version of unbridled amusement. Max would be furious. He could imagine her ripping the news chopper to shreds in his mind.

Max's mom got up from the couch silently and disappeared into the kitchen, taking the empty cookie plate with her. Fang closed his eyes and sighed. He wanted to be with Max and the Flock. They needed him. Max needed him. And he needed her.

The front door slammed and Fang could hear footsteps pounding down the hall. Out of habit, he tensed as Ella ran into the room, dragging a soggy backpack with her. She was breathing hard and dripping wet.

"Man, is it raining!" she cried, dropping into an armchair.

Dr. Martinez poked her head out of the kitchen. "Hi, sweetie! Go change your clothes and then you can have some cookies." Ella was up in flash and trotted down the hall. Fang's eyes followed her until she disappeared into her room.

"Fang," Dr. Martinez asked, "do you want anything else?"

"No," Fang said flatly, because the only thing he wanted could not be given to him. Max.

"Ok," Dr. Martinez said, "By the way, I want to run a few more tests, but I think that you are almost ready to go." If Fang had been a normal kid, he would have been whooping for joy. But he wasn't. So he didn't.

"Good," Fang sighed, and closed his eyes. "Good."

_Max, I'm coming home._


	6. Destination Unknown

That was so stupid! I felt like punching myself in the face. I hadn't noticed the news chopper soon enough, and I was pretty sure that it got some pictures if not footage of us. Crap. I closed my eyes against the wind that was making them water, today was a bit gusty.

Nudge dipped down next to me, her tawny wings beating in unison with mine. She opened her mouth.

"I know, I know. You're hungry." I interrupted. "We'll stop at the next town and pick up some chow." Nudge gave me a small smile and soared upwards again. We had been flying for nearly three hours and I was getting pretty hungry myself.

I spotted a small town below us and angled my wings into a steep dive. The flock drove with me, waiting until we almost splattered on the ground to flare out our wings. I felt my shoulder muscles pull and winced as the agitated my healing bullet wound. My lapse in concentration caused me to almost to a face plant as I hit the ground on two, shaky, yet sturdy legs.

If you have ever flown (I'm assuming you haven't), you would know that your legs can be a tad rubbery when you come in for a landing. I was feeling a bit more than rubbery, weaving this way and that like a drunken monkey.

"Alright," I said after my rubberiness had passed, "we need food." I scanned the town for possible eating locations. There wasn't much to choose from. "Follow me." I began to purposefully march towards a local grocery store.

Thirty minutes later, we were seated on the rooftop of an abandoned, eating our bounty. I had allowed everyone to grab as much food as they wanted, providing that they ate it. Nudge was talking, her mouth full of peanut butter. I ignored her as best I could and focused on my meal, three foot long loaves of bread, each topped with mystery meat, mustard, and feta cheese. They weren't great, but it was better than nothing.

"Where are we going next, Max?" Angel asked, her mouth full of churro. For those of you who don't know what a churro is, they are a long, think stick-like Mexican pastry topped with cinnamon and sugar, and sometimes filled with custard. Delicious.

"Any ideas?" I replied, since I really didn't know.

Nudge looked thoughtful as she chewed a bite of whole-wheat roll. "Can we go to Mexico City? I want to see the beaches there."

"No." I said, trying to sound as commanding as I could. "We're going to try and avoid beaches for a while."

"Please?" Nudge whined and I made the mistake of looking at her. Drat, she'd given me Bambi eyes. Now I had no choice.

"Fine." I grumbled, punishing myself inwardly for giving in.

"Yay!" Nudge squealed happily. "We get to go to the beach!" I knew I was going to regret this.

_**Max, you cannot go to Mexico City.**_

_Hi Voice. It was starting to wonder if you'd quit the business._

_**Your mission is not in Mexico City, yet. You are still missing a vital piece you need to accomplish your task.**_

_And what would this oh-so-special piece be, Voice?_

_**You know Max. Don't fool yourself.**_

__I did have an idea of what the Voice meant, but I didn't dare to hope. I swallowed nervously. _Let's pretend that I don't know. What is it?_

The Voice chuckled. _**Fang.**_

I almost choked on my piece of sandwich._ But he's dead! I saw him!_

_**I already told you Max. Follow your heart.**_

___I don't want any of your fortune cookie crap right now! Tell me what to do!_ Surprisingly, the Voice did not answer. _Voice, you are so lucky I don't know who you are, because if I did, I would be tearing you limb from limb right now._

I looked around at the Flock and realized I must have been talking aloud, because they were all staring at me like I was loony. Maybe I was.

"Don't mind me." I grumbled, keeping my eyes downcast as I bit into my sandwich. I could practically FEEL their eyes boring holes into my skin. I blushed. The last thing I needed to do right now was appear weak in front of the Flock. With Fang gone, they needed me more than ever.

"What did the Voice say this time?" Gasser asked, his eyes wide.

I looked up at him and felt my cheeks flush. He must think I was loco. "The Voice doesn't want us to go to Mexico City . . ." Nudge looked up at me.

"Why not?!" she pouted.

I stared at her sternly. She bit her lower lip and stayed quiet, though she didn't look happy about it._ Bless you, child._ "It wants to follow my heart, and right now, I really feel like going to Virginia."

Iggy frowned. "Why Virginia?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I just have this strong urge to go there."

"Okay . . ." Total said sarcastically. "Are we really going to do what the Voice says?"

I sighed. "Yes, I think so." The others looked at me like I was nuts. "It's never been wrong before."

_Max, I believe you._ Angel thought at me.

_Thanks sweetie_. Angel gave me one of her sweet like angelic smiles.

I stood up and shook bread crumbs off of my wings. "Who's ready to go?" Gazzy, Iggy, Nudge, and Angel stood up; Total didn't because he had been standing the whole time. You know, short legs and all. I jumped as high into the air as I could, about twenty feet, and thrust downwards with all my might, almost clipping the rooftop with my wingtips. I have a thirteen foot wingspan, and I have hit my wings on things many a time during takeoff.

Flying is the most wonderful thing in the world. It feels so good to be up in the thin, cold air with your wings pumping strongly and the sun beating down on your back with nothing around but open sky. There's a reason people dream about it.

We had been flying for nearly an hour when it hit; a sharp, blinding, all-consuming pain like some unseen person was driving a knife right through my skull. My wings folded inward, against my will, and I began to drop, straight towards the earth.

It had been a while since my last grenade-type headache, but this was so much worst. It was like a nuclear bomb had gone off inside my head and totally scrambled my brains. I clutched my head, trying to keep my brains inside my skull. Hopefully.

Bright lights of color flashed in front of my eyes; red, purple, green, and gold. Sharp stabs of pain drove into my head behind my eyes. Death would have come welcomingly right now. But just when I thought that I was about to become another bug on the windshield of the world, I felt three pairs of strong, gentle arms pull me back up into the sky.

I stayed curled up in a ball, holding my head and moaning. My life was literally flashing before my eyes. Images and sound clips of my life rolled in front of me like some sick, twisted movie. Fang was in every one of the pictures. The headache finally began to subside, but not before showing me my last moments with Fang. I felt tears swelling in my eyes, like I had just lost Fang again. I guess I had. _Fang. Oh, how I miss him._

A voice punched through my pain-filled thoughts. "Max, are you ok?" I heard Iggy ask. From the tone of his voice, I could tell that he was majorly concerned.

"Yeah," I moaned, unrolling a little bit and cracking one eye. I could see Iggy's sightless eyes staring down at me in concern. _Gosh, he was flying and carrying me!_ Iggy held me tightly and kept flying, a grim expression on his face. _Just like Fang._ Once again, I feel hot tears prick my eyes.

"Do you want to land?" Iggy asked.

"Yes," I choked out. I felt like I could hurl, I did certainly didn't want to do it in midair. Yuck!

We landed in a desert-like area somewhere in New Mexico, just passed the border. I walked over to a cactus and puked my guts up. When I felt a little less queasy, I walked over to the Flock, who were sitting on the ground, munching energy bars by the dozen.

"What happened?" Gazzy asked sweetly, his mouth full of granola.

"I had another headache." I said, ripping open the wrapper of an energy bar and keeping my head down so no one could see the tears in my eyes. I sniffed; my nose was running.

"Max, what did you see?" Iggy asked, his blind eyes full of concern. I looked up at the Flock. I was softly crying and tears were running down my cheeks.

"Fang." I choked. "I saw Fang."


	7. Heading Home

Fang sailed through the sky, his dark wings skimming through the air. His long hair whipped behind his head in the wind. Dr. Martinez had let him outside to exercise for the first time that morning, and Fang was enjoying every minute of it.

There was nothing more that he wanted to do than turn away from dusty old Arizona and soar out into the sky, out to find his family. But Dr. Martinez said that his body wasn't ready yet and that he should stay a few more days until he left. Fang sighed and coasted downwards into the woods that surrounded the Martinez's backyard.

Ella was sitting in a plastic lawn chair when he appeared out of the woods like a shadow, her face lit up in pure joy. "That was so amazing!" she stuttered. "I wish I could do it." Fang just shrugged and started trodding towards the house. He was feeling a bit dizzy and lightheaded.

"Fang?" Dr. Martinez called from the kitchen as Fang entered the house. "Please come here."

Fang kicked off his shoes, which had been freshly washed, and teetered into the kitchen, where Dr. Martinez was stirring a big bowl of cupcake batter. He leaned heavily on the doorway, feeling unsteady on his feet.

Max's mom looked at him with concern and set the bowl of yellow batter on the kitchen counter. "Fang, are you feeling all right?" she asked as she wiped her hands on a towel.

"Yeah," Fang grunted, "Just a little dizzy." Dr. Martinez's concern seemed to fade and she smiled.

"That's no surprise. You will probably going to be dizzy for a while until your blood balances back out." She opened the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. "You could use some fluids. They'll make some of the dizziness go away." she explained as she handed him a glass.

Fang nodded gratefully and walked down the hall to the computer room, orange juice in hand. He plopped down at the computer and turned it on, waiting quietly as the machine booted. Fang took a swig of the orange juice. It took some of the edge off of his dizziness so that the room didn't seem to swirl anymore.

Fang opened the internet and typed an address into the bar. In a few seconds, the familiar layout of his blog had loaded. It had been a while since he had last put up a post.

After logging in, Fang started to add a new post. _Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've busy with the norm. You know, Max and all. Anyway, I've managed to bang myself up pretty bad and get separated from the Flock, so if you happen to see them, drop me a line._

_**WingedAngel145 **__asks . . ._

_Fang, what is Max's favorite color? I want to start a club supporting the green movement, and I need a color for our t-shirts._

_WingedAngel145, I have no idea what Max's favorite color is. If I had to make a guess, I'd say red. She wears it an awful lot. You know, to hide the blood and all._

_**Mr. Muscles **__asks . . ._

_Yo dude! U R so cool man! I wish I had wings like you!_

_Mr. Muscles, I really doubt that you would want wings after spending a week, even a day, in our shoes. Being on the run is not fun man._

_**RomanticAngel **__asks . . ._

_Fang, do you love Max?_

_No._

_**BomberBoy22**__ asks . . ._

_Yo Fang! Haven't heard from you in a while. Hope you are doing ok. If you ever need a spot to hang, come visit me in Montana. Oh, and tell the Gasman that he ROCKS!_

_Thanks for the offer BomberBoy22, but we probably won't take you up on it. Security and all._

_Thanks for all of your questions! Fly on. _

_- Fang_

Fang submitted the post and then moved into his inbox. There were over 1000 messages in it. _That's going to take a while to empty._ Fang scrolled down the list, looking for any messages that stood out to him. He wanted to find one from Max, but she probably hadn't sent him anything. After all, she though he was dead. Who in their right mind sends a letter to a dead person?

Fang was about to close the window when a particular letter caught his eye. He focused on it. The e-mail was from Jeb, Max's father. Fang opened it.

_Fang,_

_Thought you might like to know that the Flock is heading to Virginia. Hope you're okay._

_- Jeb_

Fang's heart started racing. _Max is heading to Virginia!_ Then his thoughts sank. _How does JEB know where the Flock is? _This was not good. Apparently, someone was tracking his family. Fang shut the computer down and walked down the hall to the kitchen, were Dr. Martinez had started preparing dinner.

"I need to leave." Fang said determinedly, his arms crossed.

Dr. Martinez turned and scowled at him. "Fang, we already went over this. You can't leave yet. You're not ready."

Fang felt anger boil up inside of him. "I know where the Flock is heading. I need to meet up with them."

Dr. Martinez's scowl softened a little. "Tomorrow will be soon enough."

Fang woke the next morning, bright and early. He slipped on a black t-shirt and black Levi's before heading downstairs. Ella was seated at the kitchen table, eating a plate of waffles, eggs, and bacon covered in maple syrup. Fang sat at the table and poured himself a glass of milk from the jug.

"Morning Fang." Ella said through a mouthful of eggs and syrup. Fang merely nodded. As if on cue, Dr. Martinez walked out to the kitchen carrying a plate of freshly baked waffles.

"Good morning." she said as she shoved three waffles onto Fang's plate. Fang silently picked up the syrup pitcher and poured the sweet, brown liquid all over his plate. He gingerly cut off a piece of waffle and stuck it in his mouth, savoring it.

"So you're leaving today, huh?" Ella sounded disappointed.

"Yep." Fang replied, his words muffled by waffle.

"I'm going to miss you." Ella said. "It was fun having a new face around the house."

_What is she playing at?_ Fang shrugged. "I got to go home, to my real family."

Fang hurriedly finished his breakfast, feeling uncomfortable around Ella, and quickly walked down the hall and closed 'his' bedroom door. He sighed. He needed to get home NOW.

Fang located a pad of paper and a stubby pencil and began to write a note.

_Dr. Martinez and Ella, thank you for the place to stay while I recovered. I appreciate it. Sorry I didn't say goodbye, but I've got a long trip ahead of me._

_- Fang_

Fang placed the note of the crisp covers of his bed and opened the window. A soft, spring breeze rolled in through the open window. The sun was shining outside; a perfect day for flying. Fang pulled himself out of the window, grabbing the ledge for support. He softly jumped to the ground and ran off into the woods. It felt so go to be outside.

Soon, Fang came to the same clearing where he had found Max just a week ago. He grimaced, remembering the crumpled form of Max lying in a pool of blood. He quickly pushed the thought from his mind. Fang backed up a few steps then ran flat out, leaping as high into the air as possible. He snapped out his black wings and shoved them downwards, feeling them fill with air and carry him up into the sky.

Fang felt his feathers skim the branches of the trees as he rocketed out of the clearing. Soon, he was in open sky and gaining altitude. He pointed in northwesterly direction and flew onwards, towards the land of rolling hills and his family. And Max.


	8. Virginia, Here We Come

I finally managed to stop the flow of tears pouring from my eyes. Iggy looked at me quietly, taking in the information like a gentleman. Gazzy; however, was much more . . . uncontained.

"What!?" the Gasman exploded, "You saw Fang?!" Angel regarded her brother like he had just let forth one of his occurrences. Even Nudge was silent. Gassy finally noticed that no one else had said a word and slumped onto the ground, looking rather embarrassed.

"Max?" Angel asked, scooting over to sit next to me. Her eyes were full of concern. "What exactly did you see?"

I felt hot tears welling up in my eyes for the umpteenth time. _The little vermin._ "I don't want to talk about it." I turned my head away. Thankfully everyone stayed quiet . . . for a moment.

"Don't you think you're . . ." Iggy started. I whipped my head around and gave Iggy a death stare with my red, puffy eyes. Too bad he couldn't see it.

"What?" I hissed. Tears were trickling out of the corners of my eyes and running down my flushed cheeks.

Iggy sighed. "Max, don't you think it's time to let Fang go?"

I was shocked. Utterly. How could he even _consider_ forgetting about Fang!

_**Not forgetting Max. Moving forward. Leaving the past where it belongs and looking to the future.**_

I brushed the Voice's comment aside like an annoying fly. "You don't care do you?" I cried. "You don't UNDERSTAND!" I suddenly felt an immense need to get out of there. I jack-knifed to my feet and flared out my wings, doing and up and away in less than five seconds. By the time half a minute had passed, I was just a little speck on the horizon.

I flew about a hundred miles, using my warp drive, before I landed on a secluded ledge hanging off of the face of a sandstone cliff. I pulled myself up against the cliff face and hugged my knees to my chin, looking out over the New Mexican plain with tear-filled eyes. Fang was gone. I was finally beginning to believe it. I was scared to,

but I was despite my fears.

Fang had been my right-wing man for as long as I can remember. He was always the one I could turn to when I was confused or hurt or sad or angry. He understood me better than anyone in the Flock did, or ever will. Having him gone felt like missing a wing. I felt clumsy and awkward, like a fledgling just learning to fly on its own. Maybe I was. Maybe I had depended on Fang for so long that . . . I couldn't lead the Flock on my own?

I quickly shook this thought out of my head. The Flock NEEDED me, and Fang or no Fang, I would have to lead.

_**Good Max. You can cope without Fang. You've always been able, you just didn't want to.**_

___Have you been reading Hallmark cards again Voice? They say it isn't good for you.  
__**Max, **_the Voice chuckled. _**You know it's true. You always have.**_

__I sat sulking in silence, thinking over what the Voice had said. The Voice was annoyingly right. I could cope without Fang. I wished I couldn't. I stood up and walked to the edge of the ledge. I smiled and jumped out into space, allowing my jumbled thoughts to be swept away in the glory of the freefall. Just before I splattered onto the windshield of the world like a Max-shaped bug, I snapped my wings open and soared up into the air, back towards my family.

Iggy had settled the kids in for the night by the time I returned. He was gazing up at the stars despite the fact that he couldn't see them. I figured he was probably listening for me.

"Hey Max." Iggy said as I landed, not moving his head.

I sighed and collapsed on the ground, tired after our long day. Okay, a long day in a whole line of long days. Iggy gave me a little half smile and held out a foot long sub sandwich.

"Nudge and Gazzy hit the Subway in the town over there." Iggy explained as I bit into my sub. On the horizon I could barely see the glow of electric lights. The sandwich was delish, with all the fixings; toasted bun, tomato, lettuce, onion, olives, ham, turkey, three kinds of cheeses, peppers, mayo, mustard, and relish. I wolfed it down eagerly. Iggy waited patiently until I had finished licking my fingers.

I sighed, contentedly full, and leaned back onto my hands so that I could see the star-studded sky. "Did you think about what I said?" Iggy prodded, making me tense involuntarily.

"What," I snapped. "That I should forget about Fang?" Iggy looked hurt, so I put my arm around his thin shoulders. "Iggy, I can NEVER forget Fang. He was like a brother to me."

Iggy gazed at the dirt with sightless eyes. "It just hurts to see you so broken up about it." He scuffed his foot on the ground. "You seem so, so out of it. Like you don't know how to lead us anymore."

I was taken aback. "Iggy, I do know how to lead you; I always will." I replied softly, taking on my role as Mother Max. "It's just that Fang's death was a bit of a blow to me." _I never ever thought he would die._

"It was to all of us Max." Iggy said so softly that I almost couldn't hear him. "You need to understand that." Then he added a little bit louder. "I'll take first watch."

I laid down on the dusty ground and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to come. _My loss was so much more than yours Iggy._

I awoke early the next morning as the sun was just peeking over the horizon and kicked all of my family awake. "Up and at'em everyone!" I called. My request was met by mixed groans. After picking up a slight breakfast of weird donuty things that we got out of a grocery store's trash, we returned to our temporary camp to pack up and make plans.

"It's about a fifteen hour flight to Virginia, give or take a few hours." I explained. "We can probably get there in two or three days." Total blinked his small black eyes at me. He opened his mouth to speak. "No." I said. Total frowned and dragged himself over to Angel, where he watched me with a frown.

I knew Total wanted to take a side trip somewhere, but I had this really strong feeling that this wasn't the time for sightseeing. We needed to get to Virginia ASAP.

Once everyone was ready, we did a U & A that looked like poetry, swooping up into the air like ballet dancers. Ok, real ballet dancers don't fly, but we do. We angled ourselves in a northwesterly direction and settled into a nice air current that added twenty or more mph to our speed. _Virginia, here we come._


	9. Meeting Up

The Flock and I were holding a comfortable hundred-miles-per-hour pace as we approached the distant Texan border. Iggy looked in my general direction and smiled.

"Howdy ma'am." he said. I swooped over and gently cuffed his cheek.

"Shut up." I giggled. Angel was smiling, and even Total had dropped his frown.

"Max?" Nudge asked, pulling up next to me. "Can we stop for the night? I'm . . ."

"Hungry." I finished, putting some exasperation into my tone. "I know Nudge. We'll stop after we pass the border, okay?" Nudge nodded and fell back next to Iggy, letting her feathers brush against his.

Then, out of the blue (quite literally), a dark shape appeared on the horizon. I locked onto it with my raptor vision, trying to make out what it was. My heart lurched. _Could it be?_

"I'll be right back!" I yelled. Without waiting for an answer, I poured on the speed, pulling away from the Flock at an amazing rate. The black spot got bigger and bigger, taking on the distinct form of a bird kid. It was Fang, it had to be.

I didn't slow my mad flight as I stalked up behind the bird kid. I felt happy tears well up in my eyes and this time, I didn't try to hold them back. It was Fang, it really was. I braked hard, feeling my wings scream in pain, but I didn't care. I hit Fang at thirty miles an hour, embracing him upon impact. The look on his face was priceless.

"Max?" Fang asked flatly, his eyes betraying nothing.

"I thought you were dead!" I cried, still hugging him. Fang had become a rigid pole. Then, he relaxed and hugged me back.

"I would never leave you." he whispered so softly that I wasn't even sure if he'd said anything. I finally broke the hug, pulling back a few feet so that I could see him better.

"What happened?" I asked. "My mom was sure that you were gone."

"You kissed me." Fang said, turning his head away like his was embarrassed. He probably was.

I decided to play stupid. "Yeah, so what?"

Fang looked at me with his cold, dark eyes. He sighed deeply. "Your mom said that it was your kiss that brought me out of shock." The edges of his mouth slightly twitched - a sure sign that he was grinning ear to ear.

I gave him a half smile. "At least those darn things are good for something." Nudge, Iggy, Angel, Gazzy, and Total flew up behind me, grinning big.

"Fang!" Nudge cried. "It's so good to see you! We thought you were dead! Where have you been? How did you get better? What happened to you? Why did it take so long for you to come back? Max has been cr . . ."

I slapped my hand across Nudge's mouth before she could finish. Thankfully, all that I could hear now were some undecipherable mumbles. Fang arched his eyebrows at me, as if to say '_You, the great, almighty, indestructible Maximum Ride, were crying?'_ I knew this was what he was thinking and he was diffidently going to bring the subject up later. I was not looking forward to it.

After that, we all took off towards Virginia, seeing as we are not the type of people to sit and chat and exchange pleasantries. I was really, really glad to have Fang back. My family was whole once more. I felt energized, like I could take on the world and win. Who knows, maybe I could.

_He's thinking about you._ Angel's sweet voice popped into my head.

Her words pricked my interest, like a dog looking a big, juicy steak. _He is? About what?_

_He's really happy to see you. That's about all I can pick up from him. I don't think he has anything else on his mind._ Angel chuckled in my head. _Except the kiss._

My heart nearly stopped right there. Great, now Angel knew about it. I felt my cheeks flush red and I ducked my head so no one else could see it. The last thing I wanted was for all of the Flock to know that I had kissed Fang. It was degrading for a leader to have attachments. Well, at least I think it is.

We circled over a tree-lined lake somewhere on the eastern edge of Oklahoma. "Let's camp here for the night!" I called, looking at Fang for approval. Since he didn't look unhappy about my choice, I gently drifted downwards, aiming for a clump of trees on the far side of the lake. I landed on the lake shore, running in the pebbly sand as I folded my wings in. The rest of the Flock landed behind me, spraying gravel all over the place.

As soon as we had set up camp (a.k.a. built a fire and put our bags in a tree), Fang walked over to me. I knew what was coming next.

"We need to talk." I groaned inwardly.

"Now?" I whined. I didn't want to talk about you-know-what. Fang frowned slightly at me. I put on my best I-really-don't-want-to-do-this-right-now-and-I'm-only-doing-it-because-you're-making-me face and sulked after him. Fang walked almost halfway around the lake until he stopped, sat down, and leaned up against a tree, his feet almost touching the water's edge. I sat next to him.

"I supposed I owe you a thank you." Fang said dryly. I said nothing. My palms were all sweaty. I felt like punching something. _Come on Max. Get a grip!_

Fang looked over at me. "Are you alright?" I took a deep breath and looked at him.

"Yeah."

Fang smiled, lighting up my immediate area. "You can relax." I shook my head slightly and smiled back at him.

I felt something press into my back and I sat up, ridged, until I realized that it was only Fang's hand. He started rubbing in circles in between my wings and I started to relax, a little. _Why is being around Fang making me so tense? This is Fang._

_**Maybe because you have feelings for him, but you don't want to show them.**_

_Thanks for the tip Voice. I'll review it later._

I sat with Fang, enjoying the pressure between my wings. That is, until Fang started talking again.

"So was Nudge telling the truth?" I sat up and pushed his hand away from me. I felt like crying and running and laughing all at the same time.

"Yes." I whispered, hoping he would hear me.

Fang gave me a half smile. "I didn't know you cared." _Of course I care Fang! You are the person who means the most to me in the whole wide world!_

I shrugged. Fang leaned forward so he could see my face better. "How much?" Why did he have to keep pushing the subject?

"I don't know." I said truthfully. I'd lost count long ago. Fang looked thoughtful. I was feeling really embarrassed. I had to get out of there, before he asked me anything else.

"Max?" Fang asked as I stood up. He sounded surprised. I didn't reply, but instead ran forward and leaped out over the water, unfurling my wings as I did so. The tips of my primary feathers touched the top of the rippling surface, sending small droplets of water flying in every direction. I beat my wings strongly and gathered speed, rising as I did so. Soon the lake looked like a small pond in a field of green, overly-bushy grass.

Fang sat on the lake shore for a few minutes, watching me, then he stood up and walked slowly back to camp. I drifted around in circles above the lake, trying to sort my thoughts before I descended. Why was I feeling so jittery around Fang? I flew around for a half-hour or so then, feeling less out-of-sorts, began to lightly drift down towards the tiny speck of fire below.

I landed about twenty yards from our camp, pulling my warm wings in tightly. I walked slowly into the camp, being careful not to trod on anyone's head. Nudge, Total, and Angel were curled up in a tight ball over on the far side of the campfire. Gassy was laid out on a low branch, snoring loudly. Iggy had pulled a baseball cap down over his face for some reason and was leaning up against the trunk of Gazzy's tree. That meant that Fang was on watch. I wrinkled my nose and looked around, trying to spot Fang's outline against the darkness.

I felt the back of my neck prickle and I spun around, lashing out with a fist. I hit Fang square in the chest, making him stagger backwards.

"What was that for?" Fang whispered angrily.

"Sorry." I replied, trying to avoid conversation.

Fang's harsh expression softened a little. "Why'd you fly off earlier?"

I tensed and scowled at him. Only Fang knew me well enough to bring up a topic so raw. He must have seen the anger in my eyes, because he looked at me funny.

"Forget about it." he said, backing off a little bit. "Night Max."


	10. Jealousy

We made good time the next day, reaching Virginia around early evening. Fang hung back for a good portion of the way. I think he was trying to avoid me.

Now we were camped out in the bat cave near Anne's old house. Yes, I did say old. Apparently, had moved out since the last time we'd been to Virginia and a new family had moved in. Which was fine by me. Being in the area with that woman gave me goose bumps.

The cave was big and dark and it smelled like bat poop, but the vines covering the entrance would block wind, rain, and prying eyes. Plus, we weren't sure where else to camp and the cave seemed like a safe option. Iggy had built a fire in no time and we were all sitting round it, roasting hot dog and marshmallows. I managed to eat a whole package of hot dogs before I finally slowed down and began to enjoy the meal. After my tenth dog, I called it quits. Feeling happy and full, I curled up on the floor, using my tattered backpack for a pillow, while Iggy took first watch. I was asleep in no time.

I had third watch and the liberty of waking everyone up. After a few not-so-gentle kicks, I managed to get everyone up. Iggy was favoring his left side, were my toe had 'accidentally' connected with his flesh.

"Glad to see you're so happy." Iggy said with a wince. I pretended to ignore him.

"Alright everyone," I said after the Flock had gathered around the newly-lit campfire. "Our game plan is still the same, even though we have Fang back." I shot Fang a look - for what, I don't know.

The Gasman looked at me with big, trusting eyes. "So what is our game plan Max?"

I hesitated for a moment, scrolling through a list of possible answers in my head. _**Stay here. Search for anything unusual.**_

"Where going to stay right here." I said firmly. "See what we can find out about Itex." _What's left of it anyway. By the way Voice, what ARE we looking for anyways?_

I'm sure this will surprise you, but the Voice didn't answer back. "We need some food," I commented, noticing our small stash of jerky and energy bars. "Fang?" Fang looked at me with quiet Fang-like patience.

"Iggy, you're in charge until we get back. No blowing things up or leaving the cave, comprende?" Iggy nodded, trying to suppress a snicker. I rolled my eyes. "I'm rolling my eyes Iggy."

After I was fairly sure that they wouldn't blow anything up in my absence, I walked out the mouth of the cave and jumped outwards, unfurling my wings and feeling them fill with air. Fang followed silently, beating him wings fast so he could pull along side of me.

We landed behind a grocery store, pulling our wings in tightly and putting on our oversized, baggy windbreakers. I tried to look casual as I walked into the store, like _Fly? Me? Nah. _In truth, going into a busy Albertson's was driving me nuts. I felt like snapping out my wings and getting the heck out of there. But we needed food, so I didn't.

"I going to get some doughnuts," I whispered to Fang, "You can go find some high energy snacks. Nothing heavy."

I walked back to the bakery area, tense as a coiled spring. If anyone said anything to me, I was going to punch their lights out. I made it back to the doughnut case without victimizing any poor sucker who made the mistake of talking. I pulled one of those cute plastic napkiny things out of the little pink container and began to place donuts into a box. After grabbing enough 'nuts for all of us - which was like, three dozen - I walked down to the snacks isle. My hands were literally shaking the entire way.

I turned into the isle, boxes in hand, and there was Fang, standing right next to the Red Haired Wonder.

I pulled back before he could see me and stood, panting. Images of Fang kissing her, back when we were staying with Anne, immediately flooded my mind. I felt like screaming. My heart was pounding so hard that it sounded like a little, annoyingly loud drum drumming away in my chest. A few people who walked by, pushing their cute little shopping carts, paused to send some curious glances my way. I didn't blame them.

I took a deep breath and turned the corner. Fang was still standing there, his eyes transfixed on the girl, and he was freakin' _smiling_! I wanted to punch him. _Maybe later._

Fang didn't notice me until I practically bowled him over. _To busy watching her bat her eyelashes at him!_

I felt acid boiling up in my stomach. My eyesight was tinged red. "Nick," I hissed, ignoring the Red Haired Wonder. "We need to go."

Fang turned to look at me. Anyone who didn't know him really well would think that Fang looked normal; cool, calm, collected. But I could plainly see the unbridled anger that flared up in his eyes.

"Are you Max?" The Red Haired Wonder asked, "Nick's sister?"

"Yes," I said through clenched teeth. She didn't seem to notice, 'cause she continued on.

"I'm Lissa." she said, sidling closer to Fang. "I was in Nick's class last year." She paused to frown. "Why did you leave so suddenly last year? You were there one day, before the fire drill, and then I never saw you again."

I realized that she was referring to the day we were _attacked_. The teachers must have told them that it was a "fire drill." Whatever that is. Fang was being annoying calm around her, like he had no problem being in her presence. I felt like I could snap any second.

"There was a rumor circulating that you . . ." here she paused and lowered her voice, "_flew_ away from the school."

Fang flashed her a smile that ripped me in half. "Yeah, I did have wings that day. I could swear that my feet never touched the ground the whole time I was running." Lissa, the creep, looked unhappy with the explanation but she kept quite. I was glad, but still boiling mad, that Fang hadn't just gone, "Hey, want to see my wings?"

My cheeks were hot and my palms were sweating. Part of me wanted to grab Fang by the ear and drag him out of the store, kicking and screaming. But_ somehow_, this plan didn't seem to line up with the whole 'lie low' thing. So I stayed quiet and seethed.

Fang didn't seem in any hurry to leave. _Is he doing this just to annoy me?_ "Nick," I said calmly. "We need to go. Now." Fang frowned at me, and shook his head. _What?!_ I turned and looked at Lissa.

"It was really great meeting you Lissa," I strained. "But Nick and I have to go now." Lissa frowned.

"Nick just said that he was free all day." She scuffed her foot on the floor. "I was hoping that he and I could, you know, go out tonight." Then she looked me in the face. I wanted to curl me lip back and growl at her like, um, an Eraser. "But if you guys have to go, don't let me stop you." A look of genuine disappointment flashed across her face.

Fang scooted closer to her. "Really, we don't have anything to do." He stared at me pointedly. "Tell Mom that I'll be home a little later. You can carry all of the groceries on your own, can't you Max?"

He was baiting me. I could:

jump up and down while screaming at him, drawing undesired attention.

tell him that I couldn't carry all of the stuff home (which I could), therefore admitting that I was jealous of him and Lissa

calmly tell him that that was fine and I'd see him later

All three options sucked. I finally, reluctantly, chose to go with the third option. "Ok," I said brightly. "I'll tell Mom that you'll be home by SEVEN." I punctuated that last word to prove my point. _And when you get home, I'm going to chew you out. _ Fang frowned at me, but he didn't argue. Lissa was smiling like I'd just handed her a big lollipop.

I flew home in a fury. I could still see Fang's smile as he looked at Lissa. It was imprinted into my brain, a great big billboard on the highway of thought. A great big _repeating_ billboard that lasted for miles. I skidded to a stop as I landed in our bat cave, almost colliding with Iggy, who was rummaging through our bags.

"Watch it!" he complained as a pink doughnut box knocked him on the head.

"Sorry," I growled, shoving the boxes into his hands. "Have some doughnuts." Iggy took the boxes calmly and walked over to the fire.

"S' 'bout time you got back!" Nudge squealed. "I'm starving!" She snatched a box from Iggy and opened it, pulling out three crème-filleds.

I sat on the ground with my portion, packing dough and frosting away. I hadn't noticed that I was so hungry. I finished licking my fingers and stood up. "I got to go out." I said. "Iggy, you're in charge until I get back."

"Where're you going Max?" Nudge asked, her mouth filled with crème.

I hesitated momentarily. "Just out." I said with finality. I didn't want to tell them the real reason for my leaving. I turned and ran out of the cave, jumping at the edge and unfurling my wings. I felt the familiar sensation of going airborne and soared upwards with a few hard strokes. I leveled out just below the cloud line, scanning the ground below for Fang and the Red Haired Wonder. I finally spotted them walking down a side street. Thanks to my raptor vision, I could see them quite clearly. They had gotten ice cream; Fang chocolate, Lissa vanilla. The two of them were heading in the direction of the movie theater, chatting like old friends and _holding hands_.

I felt my blood boil. Adrenaline rushed through my veins like white-hot lightning. I felt like hurling. I circled away and headed in the direction that seemed the most practical. The opposite of them. I flew into the woods where, all those months ago, Ari had chased me and the Flock as we made our getaway from Anne's house. Where Fang had beaten Ari up. _Fang._ I perched on a tree limb, letting my wings stay out as they cooled down. I felt all nauseated and confused - not a desirable combo. I sat down and gazed out at Anne's pond. A pair of young kids - one boy, one girl - were splashing around while their parents sat on the bank in their lawn chairs, smiling. _I wish I was normal._

_**Max, both you and I know that a normal life would bore you to tears.**_

_Oh yeah?! Well Voice, why don't you try being on the run for a few years. I'm tired of worrying!_

_**I understand that you're upset Max. But you've done very well, considering the circumstances.**_

_I don't care! The fact that I've 'done well' doesn't mean anything. I'm still a mutant freak! I have WINGS! I'll never fit in anywhere, never!_

I was on the verge of tears now. I rapidly blinked, trying to hold back the flood._** But Max, you do fit in. Maybe not in a normal way, but in a special way, a way that suits you best.**_

I was crying softly now. _Drat._ I turned and punched the tree trunk as hard as I could. New tears welled up in my eyes, pain tears, as I looked at my knuckles, red and raw and covered in splinters. My hand hurt like hell. Thankfully though, the pain had cut through the confusion and the pain of tangled thoughts was gone. For now anyway.


	11. Heartache

I was waiting for Fang when he returned to the cave, hands on my hips. "You're late." I said simply.

Fang shrugged. "Max, it's only 7:06."

_That's true._ "I said SEVEN, not seven oh six." Fang sighed and brushed me aside to he could enter the cave. I grabbed the back of his shirt and spun him around. He looked annoyed.

"What is your problem?" he asked calmly, but there was a razor sharp edge to his voice.

I stared him right in the eyes. "How'd it go?"

Fang glanced at the rest of the Flock, who were huddled around their campfire a little ways into the cave, oblivious to our predicament. "Lissa's nice." he whispered angrily. "We got ice cream and watched a movie. That's all."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" I hissed. "I haven't forgotten last time, you know."

Fang almost exploded. "Don't you trust me anymore? What did I do wrong?"

I turned my head away so he couldn't see my impending tears. "You left me." I whispered so quietly that there was no way that he could have heard it. But obviously, my actions spoke louder than my words, because Fang noticed my uncomfortable shaking.

"Max, I'm sorry." he said, placing his arms around my shivering shoulders.

I flashed a tear-stained snarl at him. "I don't care whether you're sorry or not." I pushed him backwards and jumped off of the cliff into the night. Fang watched me every wing-beat of the way.

I spent the night in the tree by Anne's house. My jumbled thoughts kept me up most of the night, but I think I dozed off somewhere around two. The main things on my mind were (a) Lissa, (b) Fang, (c) me, (d) my quest to save the world, (e) Jeb, (f) how this all ties in together.

The brain explosion came while I was asleep. I watched images flash by so fast, it was like watching a movie at light speed; twisted ladders of DNA, needles, short clips of people in lab coats talking, drawings of a bird kid's anatomy, test tubes, basically everything that had to do with the School and Itex. But at the end, I saw a key pad with four numbers lit up, 4-6-3-9, and then the familiar landscape of Anne's house.

I woke up pumped with adrenaline, ready to fight. I was sweating heavily and breathing hard. I had a raging headache. I sat in the tree until the sun made its slow journey over the horizon. Then I slowly flew back to the Flock.

It turned out that Fang had left a few minutes before I arrived back at the cave. How convenient for him.

"Does anybody know where Fang is?" I asked sternly, trying to keep my earnesty out of my tone.

Iggy scuffled his shoes on the ground. Angel shifted uncomfortably. Gazzy was frowning and looking at his shoes like they were the most interesting things in the world. Even Nudge was quiet - for once.

"He went . . . out." Iggy said slowly.

"Why?" I asked, eyes narrowed.

"To meet someone."

"Who?" I injected some steel into my voice, although I already knew the answer.

"Lissa." Iggy whispered.

I frowned at him. "Where did he go." I demanded.

Gassy looked up at me with big, trusting eyes. "He told us not to tell you." There was no way I was going to punch Gazzy - he was just eight - but Iggy . . . well, he was a different matter.

I grabbed a big fistful of Ig's white t-shirt and pulled him close to me. "Where. Did. Fang. Go?" I said, venom dripping off of each word.

Iggy looked at me with his sightless, clear blue eyes and smile/scowled, which he is really good at. "Fang went to the park. The one behind the school."

I dropped Iggy - I had lifted him almost an inch without noticing - and ran out of the cave, leaping out into the air and unfurling my wings. I immediately shifted into warp speed, my wings moving in a blur, and I shot off in the direction of the park.

I spotted Fang and Lissa sitting on a park bench almost immediately, thanks to my raptor vision. They were looking out over a lake, holding hands, and talking softly to each other. Fang was looking at Lissa with a stomach-churning fondness. Then he leaned forward and whispered something into her ear. Lissa's smug little face lit up and she nodded eagerly. The two stood up and walked down the park path, with led into a clump of trees.

I wheeled about and passed over the trees to see Fang holding Lissa's hand. Suddenly, she spun to face him, then, hugging him, she pressed her lips onto his. Fang accepted the kiss eagerly, turning his mouth so that they could kiss better. Then the two disappeared behind the trees as I flew away from them. I immediately nose-dived towards the earth and flared out my wings, coming to a heavy thump on the ground that made my knees groan. Then I made my way through the trees until I could see the path that Lissa and Fang were on.

They were still kissing. Fang had his arms around her waist and they were in total lip-lock. I suddenly felt a strong urge to hurl. I turned around and took about five steps when I put my foot on a dry twig, which snapped with a horrifyingly loud crunch.

I turned around to see that Fang and Lissa had stopped kissing. Lissa was looking at Fang in loving confusion, the kind you get after you go light headed from kissing, and Fang was raking the trees with his gaze. I ducked behind the nearest tree, breathing hard, hoping he hadn't seen me. If he did, he gave no indication of it. After a few long seconds, I heard footsteps padding down the concrete. I waited a god minute or two before I took off and flew home to the cave.

Fang returned home sometime around noon. "Where have you been?" I asked casually, wisely playing it stupid. If Fang knew I had been watching him . . .

Fang shrugged his shoulders and went to sit down by the fire. I walked over and sat next to him. "I had a dream last night."

Fang looked at me with interest. "About what?"

"I saw a whole lot of things that were related to Itex, the School, stuff like that." I explained coolly, trying to brush the image of Fang with Lissa out of my mind. "But at the end, I saw a keypad with some glowing numbers, 4-6-3-9." Fang looked at me skeptically, but he didn't interrupt. "And then, then I saw Anne's house."

Fang digested this for a minute. "It makes sense." he said slowly. "We know that Anne was high up at Itex, so she probably had some information stored at her house."

"Yeah. But we stayed at her house for a few _months_. We saw every inch of her house."

"No we didn't." Angel piped up. "Remember the garden shed?"

"Go on."

"Well," Angel explained. "we never went inside the shed did we? She could have hidden stuff in there, and we never would have known about it." I nodded my head. It seemed like a good possibility.

"We'll go check it out tonight." I decided. "After dark."


	12. A Raiding We Will Go

As it turns out, Fang had made a date with Lissa that night and couldn't *cough* come up with enough heart to break it. _Not that my emotions matter much . . ._ So, anyway, it was decided (By Fang, mind you. Not me.) that Fang was to go on his date with Lissa while the rest of us went and checked out Anne's garden shed.

I was still steaming when we landed in the woods behind the backyard of the house. Moonlight caught the tree's shadows and threw them out over the lawn. It was kind of eerie. Or maybe it was the fact that this _was_ Anne's house. Or used to be.

We found the garden shed fast enough. It wasn't very big, no more than seven feet tall, and was made of light colored pine wood. There were no windows to see of, so I had Iggy pick the padlock on the door.

"Good job," I said 2.43 seconds later. "That was your best ever."

Iggy beamed at me as his delicate fingers put his lock-picking tools away in their filthy black case. I took a deep breath and fell Angel's small hand reach up and grab mine. I smiled down at her. Then, I reached out my hand and pushed the door open.

The door was a little heavier than I had expected, so it only opened a few inches. The hinges squeaked in protest as the door moved. I was wound tighter than an alarm clock. The noise could have woken the family inside the house. Thankfully, no alarms went off, no dogs barked, no one caused general mayhem.

I pushed the shed door the rest of the way open and stepped inside, looking carefully for trip wires or lasers or something-that-will-fry-you-the-instant-you-touch-it. Call me paranoid.

As far as I could see, the shed wasn't booby trapped, so I made gave the flock a thumbs-up. Now why didn't the flock come in to the shed with _moi_, you ask? Our claustrophobia is too great to have all six of us (Total was in Gazzy's arms) fit in a small seven-by-six foot space of a shed. Heck, I was getting a little jittery with just me in there.

The shed was nearly empty. There were a few holey bags of fertilizer, a rusted tin watering can, a couple of smashed plant pots, and a whole lot of cobwebs. I was just about to shoo my family out of there went a glittery thing on the wall caught my eye. Maybe I'm part crow or something. I locked onto it with my raptor vision. Cowering on the far wall, in the corner, was a dust-coated keypad. It was old and grimy and didn't look like it had been used in a while. There were bits of green moss - or maybe mold - growing in between the keys.

I cautiously walked over to the pad and pushed the first button, 4. Nothing happened. I pushed the second button, 6. Still nothing happened. You'd think that with Itex, they'd have retina scanners and all that schmancy stuff. Oh well. I pushed the last two buttons, 3 and then 9. I held my breath. Nothing happened. _O.k. . . _

Five seconds passed. Then ten. I was holding my breath, not daring to move in case I had activated like, say, an invisible security system of Max-melting lasers. By the time thirty seconds had passed, I relaxed a little. If anything was going to attack, it already would have. Right?

That's when I noticed the door. The keypad was the locking mechanism for a wall safe. Duh! I carefully opened the unlocked safe front, hoping it wasn't booby trapped. Then I saw the reason why no one had bothered with a state of the art security system.

Inside a small, one by one foot space was a musty yellow folder. I gingerly picked it up like it had been dipped in acid. Bits of chewed up paper fluttered out. Then there was a soft plink as a golden key hit the rotting floorboards. I bent down and picked it up. I looked like a regular old key to me, so I stuck it in my pocket.

I walked out of the shed and onto the grass, breathing a silent sigh of relief. The Gasman was looking at the folder with obvious interest. I pulled it closer to me so he couldn't snatch it. "Let's go home."

Quietly tip-toeing into the woods, we launched into the air and threw our wings out, soaring upwards into the star-studded sky. I could feel the cool breeze brushing past my face and I smiled. _This is how it should be forever. _I looked back to check if Fang was making one of his silent approaches on me. Then I remembered that Fang, the traitor, was somewhere in town, holding hands with the Red Haired Wonder. I frowned and flew on stiffly.

We landed in our bat cave about three minutes later, leaving our warm wings unfurled so that they could cool off some. I sat down and pulled an old, battered flashlight from our backpack that wasn't of much better quality. I flicked the switch on and the blub threw out a faded, yellow beam. It needed new batteries, but, of course, we didn't have any. The flashlight would probably wind up in one of Gassy's explosives after it died.

I focused the dying beam on the front of the yellow folder. It looked even worse than it had in the shed; yellow, stained, faded. It even had a few holes in it for good measure. I opened the cover gingerly and looked at the papers inside.

They were crumpled and stained. Some animal had taken the liberty of chewing on them, so there were some good sized chunks of text missing around the edges. The words were dull and faded and difficult to read. A few of them were so far gone that even I, with my raptor vision, couldn't read them. But all in all, they weren't too shabby. I picked up the first page and began to read.

Basically, the pages contained a lab report for the Institute of Higher Living on the date of April 23, 2005. You know, who cleaned what cages, who had blood drawn, the results of different tests on mutants, the normal lab day stuff. Pretty uninteresting, if you ask me. At the end of the report though, there was a small line of faded text that caught my attention. _"We are building a new facility in . Key included with this report is master key _ _building."_ My hands were shaking as I held the page. There was another facility somewhere out there. Then I remembered something the Voice had said a while back:

_Nudge looked thoughtful as she chewed a bite of whole-wheat roll. "Can we go to Mexico City? I want to see the beaches there."_

_"No." I said, trying to sound as commanding as I could. "We're going to try and avoid beaches for a while."_

_"Please?" Nudge whined and I made the mistake of looking at her. Drat, she'd given me Bambi eyes. Now I had no choice._

_"Fine." I grumbled, punishing myself inwardly for giving in._

_"Yay!" Nudge squealed happily. "We get to go to the beach!" I knew I was going to regret this._

**Max, you cannot go to Mexico City.**

Hi Voice. It was starting to wonder if you'd quit the business.

**Your mission is not in Mexico City, yet. You are still missing a vital piece you need to accomplish your task.**

_Is the other facility in Mexico City? Is that what the the Voice meant?_ I was still sitting on the floor, hunched over, papers in hand when Fang flew in. He ruffled his feathers a little bit and strode over to sit down next to me by the fire. He didn't say a word.

"Fang," I said after a few long moments, "I think there's another School. One in Mexico City."

Fang just sort of shrugged and looked at me coolly. "Yeah, so? Max, there are Schools everywhere in the world."

I knit my eyebrows together. "Well, look at this." I shoved the handful of crumpled pages into him face and waited none-too-patiently for him to finish.

"So what do you want to do about it?" Fang asked after he was done.

I looked at him like he was nuts. "Fang, we have the _master key_ to a top-secret facility! Don't you want to check it out?"

Fang shrugged and look at the fire. "I was kind of hoping we were done with all this running stuff Max. Settle down somewhere and just _live_."

I was a bit taken aback. I mean, he had mentioned this before, but I'd thought that he'd gotten over it. Apparently not. "Let's say I agree with you. Where would you suggest we settle down?" I replied calmly.

Fang shrugged again. "Here. There. Anywhere. Just away from all this mayhem." He sighed. "But if I had to pick a spot, I'd say here, in Virginia. The Flock likes it here and I do to. So do you."

I sucked in a breath. I knew why he liked it here all too well. The Red Haired Wonder - Miss Perfect herself. I fought back a bunch of tears and looked at the fire, hoping that it would dry my face.

"So, how'd it go tonight?" I asked after a few awkward minutes.

Fang smiled a little. "Ok, I guess. I told Lissa that we'd be leaving soon and she got a little upset. I promised her another date before I left." He picked up a stick and poked at the fire, sending sparks into the air.

"Okay." I managed to choke out. Then stretched and yawned really big. It was fake, of course. "I'm beat. I'm hitting the hay." With that, I got up and walked over to my sleeping area; a small ledge of rock with a crumpled shirt for a pillow. All right, it wasn't the Ritz, but it was better than, say, a subway tunnel, and I've slept in my share of those. I fell asleep after a long night of tossing and turning, with unshed tears in my eyes.


	13. Heartbreak

I watched Fang leave on his last date - I hope - with the Red Haired Wonder the next morning. He said that he would be back sometime around four, but after all this Lissa stuff, I wasn't sure I trusted him like I used to. Oh the joys of being a mutant freak.

After Fang had left, I walked around, rubbing my arms to warm them and feeling hollow inside. _Fang choose Lissa over me. Maybe . . . maybe he should stay here with her._ I paced a lot that morning, but one thing was very clear to me: Fang had abandoned me for an ordinary girl. I felt anger boiling in my stomach. _What about her is so great? She can't fly. Heck, she can't even take a descent punch in the ribs! _I spent a good part of the early morning seething. Note to future athletes - getting mad is the best way, like, ever, to get ready for a game. Let's see that adrenaline rushing, people!

After I had calmed down somewhat, I woke up the Flock and made sure Iggy, instead of falling back asleep, started on our meager breakfast. The oatmeal, ready about ten minutes later and made from instant mix, was thick and overly seasoned, but it was warm, so I downed it quickly before it cooled off too much. The hot food took away most of the stronger hunger pangs that my stomach was to graciously sending me and warmed my body.

I sat by the fire, warming my arms, as I organized our agenda for the day. Number one on my list? Sit and try to organize my hopelessly entangled thoughts.

"Max?" Nudge asked. "Can we go flying?" I looked at Nudge, who was sitting opposite me with a energy bar in her tan hand.

"Sure." I said brightly, glad for a chance to have some peace and quiet to myself. "Just make sure you fly high, I don't want anyone seeing us."

Five heads nodded agreeably and then the Flock - including Total - jumped out of the cave and soared off into the sky. I walked over to the door and watched my family ascend. Once I was satisfied with their altitude, I return to the fire and sat down, poking at the embers with a stick. Coals flew into the air and drifted around and some landed in my hair.

The fire eventually burned down, but I still sat next to the burned ring of wood, shivering slightly as the air grew colder. I had been sitting on the floor for a good hour when I heard a scuffling noise outside of the cave.

"Hello?" I called, trying to see through the heavy vines that obscured the entrance. The noise floated into the cave again. It was a noise I knew well, too well - the sound of someone trying to sneak up on me, but failing with great accuracy.

I stood up and, on a whim, picked up a fire-blackened stick from the coals. The stick was about three feet long and had some branch nubs on one end, like a medieval mace or something. Maybe, if I was lucky, the small stumps would poke someone's eye out. I moved into a fighting position - feet slightly apart, knees bent, arms gripping the stick like a baseball bat - and watched the patch of light that was the cave entrance.

I heard some shuffling of feet and then there was silence. Adrenaline coursed through my veins like liquid fire. I was breaking out in a thin layer of sweat. Then there was a little more shuffling and a pair of glowing, neon green eyes - literally - looked in at me through the vines. I raised my stick a little higher.

A form stepped into the cave. "Max-HIH-mum Ride." It chortled. My knees grew weak with horror. In front of me, stood another one of those Ari-bots that Mr. Chu had created. This one was a bit better in looks, but I was saddened to hear that it STILL could not pronounce my name correctly.

"He-HIH-llo Stupid!" I replied to the robot, holding my stick a little higher in the air. The Ari-bot stood impassively at the entrance, blocking my way out. I stood, poised to strike, where I was. The Flock was too far away to hear me if I screamed, and besides, that would seem like an incredibly weak thing to do, no? I could take this one bot on and not even break a nail. Easy. I waited, hoping that the robot would move. It's unnatural stillness was getting to me, like it was dead on its feet, except for the face that it's green laser eyes kept flicking back and forth. Maybe it couldn't see me?

Then, suddenly, the Ari-bot wound up its arm and threw something at me, quick as a striking snake. I'm fast, super-human fast, but even I could escape the rock that was hurling towards me at, like, a hundred-miles-an-hour. The rock hit me square in the chest and I felt my breath leave me in one big 'Whoosh!' I fell backwards onto my butt, feeling a little light-headed and a lot bruised. And majorly angry. Not to mention super ticked. I mean, he took me out with a stinking _rock_! I heaved myself to my feet, breathing hard, and ducked quickly, narrowly missing an iron hard fist that had been aimed at my head. I used my momentum to throw myself into a hunched roundhouse kick that told the Ari-bot's legs out from underneath it. I heard its metal head make a delightful 'Thunk!' as it hit the rock ground. I immediately grabbed its long leg, turned around to pull it across the floor to the cliff edge, then I remembered its other leg, the one I wasn't holding . . . when it kicked me in the backside and sent me tumbling, head-over-heels.

I skidded to a stop, with a sore backside, and rolled to the side to miss a flying foot aimed at my ribs. It connected, and I winced as I felt something snap inside. I sucked in a big hiss of air, feeling broken bones shift as I stood up. I leaned to the side, holding my rib cage with one hand, and glared at the robot. Its metal head had a big dent in it where it had connected with the cave floor.

I didn't move from where I was rooted to the floor. The Ari-bot stared at me with its cold, green eyes. Then it charged. The robot roared forward, its arms outstretch to push me off the edge. There was no way I could escape it this time. So, at the last possible second, I ducked and rolled beneath its legs. As I passed underneath it, I put my legs up and kicked with all my might. The robot teetered on the edge of the cliff for a brief second before plummeting down towards the ground.

My ribs were killing me, but I made sure I'd checked outside for any more baddies before I allowed myself to relax and sit down by the fire. Thoughts tumbled about in my mind like a tornado, but I was exhausted and didn't want to waste my energy by thinking. I was still sitting motionless by the fire when Fang returned.

He looked happy, though I couldn't imagine why. I mean, I just got_ beat up_ by robots! Hello! Fang seated himself by me before he actually noticed anything wrong.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice flat.

I sighed. "Someone sent a visitor. I showed him the way out."

Fang looked at me with concern. "You okay?"

My lip quivered. I couldn't help it. Fang noticed. "Sorry. Forget about it."

I was going to cry and I hated it. I could feel all of those little salty tears marching up my tear ducts. So I swallowed them down and channeled my emotions into a different output. Rage.

"Yeah." I said with my voiced raised. "You just go ahead and forget about it. I mean, it's not like I matter to you anymore like, like Lissa does!" I was so, so mad at Fang. I started shouting. "You aren't there for me anymore Fang! I've always known that you'd be around when I needed you. But not anymore. No, you've got to go off and play kissy games with that weak, puny human!"Fang regarded me calmly. I stood up. "See, you don't care!" Here my voice started to waver. Tears were beginning to flow down my cheeks. "I can't take this anymore, Fang. I just can't. So, you just stay here with your girlfriend - I'm leaving." My ribs were killing me.

"Max" Fang said, catching my shoulder as I hobbled over to the cave opening. I shoved him as hard as I could. Fang stumbled backwards, surprised.

"I mean it Fang. I really do. I'm leaving - permanently." I whispered. My throat was all constricted from the tears and speaking felt like eating sandpaper.

Fang stood still, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Max." The words seemed to catch in this throat. "Max, I'm sorry. I . . ."

"I don't care if you're sorry!" I yelled. My clenched hands were shaking at my sides. "Fang, this is the third time that you've ditched me - me and the Flock - for some human girl. How can I believe you if you say you're sorry? Huh? You'll just go and do it again like all the other times!" Fang's eyes opened wider and wider and wider until I thought that they were just going to pop out and fall on the floor.

"Good bye!" I said as I turned around to face the great outdoors. "And don't think about following!" With that I jumped out into open space and unfurled by wings, crying out a little as I felt my broken ribs shift. Fang stood in the cave entrance - I could feel his stare boring into my back - until I was long gone.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Fang made the Flock stay in the cave for a week after Max left, on the off chance that she decided to return. But he knew she wouldn't. Max was strong, strong to the finish, and she wouldn't come groveling back to him or the Flock. She was good on her word and if Max said she was never coming back, she wasn't.

Fang was stunned. He never could have imagined that Max had so much anger at him pent up inside her. But what hurt him the most was the fact that she didn't trust him anymore. Fang couldn't remember a single situation in his entire life where Max didn't want him backing her up. But she didn't any more.

Fang had betrayed Max's trust. And for what, a few dates? Fang sighed as he flew onwards, with the Flock following behind. Yes, he would find Max, even if he had to travel to the ends of the earth, and when he did, he was going to tell her the three words that she needed to hear so badly. _I love you._


	14. The Ride Continues

Thank you for reading Maximum Ride: Broken Promises, Broken Hearts. Please review if you have the time. Even though this story has ended, the ride has not. Has Max left the Flock forever, or will Fang convince her to return? What is going on at the School in Mexico City? What new threat does the second Ari-bot pose? Find the answers to these questions and many more in the third and final book in my Maximum Ride series, Maximum Ride: All Is Lost. Fly high and enjoy the ride.


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